Local Community

Oakland University is located in Oakland County located in southeast Michigan. One of the most prosperous counties in the United States, Oakland County is home to Fortune 500 companies, year-round recreation, entertainment, shopping, and cultural and social opportunities. Together, all this makes Oakland County a great place to live, work and go to school.

Art Center Paint Creek Center for the Arts is a nonprofit community art center that provides a variety of studio art classes for children and adults, a year-round exhibition schedule of contemporary fine art and the annual Art & Apples Festival.

Art Museum

The sixth-largest fine arts museum in the United States, The Detroit Institute of Arts, houses more than 60,000 works and is located in downtown Detroit.

Meadow Brook Amphitheater

Meadow Brook Amphitheater is located on-campus and features mainstream music artists, family programs and festivals year-round.

Music

A variety of concerts and special events are held within a short driving distance of OU, including:

The OU Art Gallery features six museum-quality exhibitions annually, September through May. The gallery aims to enrich through intellectual and emotional enjoyment of the visual arts.

Tickets at the Center for Student Activities

Discounted tickets are available for students at the Center for Student Activities and Leadership Development Service Window in the basement of the Oakland Center. Tickets for on-campus events and off-campus concerts and sporting events at participating venues. A valid GrizzCard must be shown to purchase tickets at the discounted student rate.

Varner Studio Theatre

Students from the School of Music, Theatre and Dance perform at the Varner Studio Theatre located on-campus in Varner Hall.

The Henry Ford, located in Dearborn, is the nation's largest indoor/outdoor history museum, which includes 88 acres of historic homes and buildings spanning 300 years of American history. The Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm, located in Stoney Creek Village, a 16-acre museum complex dating back to 1823, has exhibits that highlight the settlement, agriculture, industry and cultural evolution of the greater Rochester area.

You can golf on OU's two golf courses, The R&S Sharf Golf Course and the Katke-Cousins Golf Course. There are also more than 30 courses located in Oakland County! Ones near campus include Brookwood Golf Club, Pine Trace Golf Club and Hampton Golf Club.

Parks

Besides the many city and township parks, Oakland County has 11 county parks and 8 state parks that offer year-round recreation including camping, hiking, swimming, boating, fishing, golfing, biking, picnicking, cross-country skiing, ice skating and ice fishing. Parks close to home include Stoney Creek, River Woods Park and Spencer Beach.

Recreation Trail

The trailhead for the 8.5-mile Paint Creek Trail, which is a non-motorized recreation trail for hiking, biking, cross-country skiing and horseback riding, is located in downtown Rochester. There are also multiple trailheads for the Clinton River Trail near campus.

The Royal Park Hotel, 600 E. University Drive in Rochester, has partnered with Oakland University to serve as the university’s preferred destination for guest lodging and official conference center. This partnership provides OU guests and visitors with first class conference facilities and lodging, while increasingly drawing esteemed visitors to the region and broadening awareness of the Rochester community.

Preferred Partner Hotels The following hotels are preferred partners of OU Athletics. Ask for OU discounted rates when making a reservation at these places: